Jean-Luc Godard
The French New Wave hadn't crashed over cinema in the 1950s and 60s, could any of the film movements since have come about? Without auteurs like François Truffaut, Agnès Varda, and most of all Jean-Luc Godard, could the French New Wave itself have happened? And without Anna Karina, would Jean-Luc Godard have become Jean-Luc Godard? Though he did make Breathless, his first and most enduring feature, without Karina, it wasn't for lack of desire: when he tried to bring the still-teenaged Danish actress onboard the project after spotting her in a soap commercial, she turned down his offer because it would involve a nude scene. But she made less of an objection to political themes, demonstrated by her agreement to participate in Godard's next movie, the controversial Le Petit Soldat.
In total, Karina would appear in eight of Godard's films, including A Woman Is a Woman, My Life to Live, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, and Pierrot le Fou — more than enough to make her the nouvelle vague's most captivating screen presence. This status has transcended culture and time, as evidenced by "Anna Karina's Guide to Being Mesmerizing," the short tribute video by the British Film Institute at the top of the post.
To Godard she was first an actress, then a muse; soon she became his wife, and then nearly the mother of his child. Godard, l'amour, la poésie, the above documentary on Godard and Karina's professional and personal relationship, argues that her miscarriage became the implicit subject of My Life to Live. From then on their relationship, always described as "tumultuous," deteriorated; they divorced in 1965, the year before their final collaboration, Made in USA.
In total, Karina would appear in eight of Godard's films, including A Woman Is a Woman, My Life to Live, Band of Outsiders, Alphaville, and Pierrot le Fou — more than enough to make her the nouvelle vague's most captivating screen presence. This status has transcended culture and time, as evidenced by "Anna Karina's Guide to Being Mesmerizing," the short tribute video by the British Film Institute at the top of the post.
To Godard she was first an actress, then a muse; soon she became his wife, and then nearly the mother of his child. Godard, l'amour, la poésie, the above documentary on Godard and Karina's professional and personal relationship, argues that her miscarriage became the implicit subject of My Life to Live. From then on their relationship, always described as "tumultuous," deteriorated; they divorced in 1965, the year before their final collaboration, Made in USA.